415. Aisha Praught Leer, Two-Time Olympian for Team Jamaica

Ali on the Run Show

Ali Feller

Fitness, Sports, Running, Health & Fitness

4.9 • 4.2K Ratings

🗓️ 25 August 2021

⏱️ 87 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

"I couldn't hear. I couldn't think. He was very matter of fact. He said, 'You have a complete medial meniscus root tear. That means your meniscus tore off the bone. You need surgery — not today, but in the next couple days. Tokyo isn't an option.'"

Professional Puma-sponsored runner Aisha Praught Leer was living every athlete's dream this summer. She'd secured her spot on Jamaica's Olympic team, and was training in St. Moritz with her Team Boss teammates Emma Coburn and Cory McGee. She was feeling fit. Fast. Ready to race the 1500 in Tokyo. But then, just a few days before boarding the plane to Japan, Aisha was warming up before a track workout when she felt a pop in her knee. That pop turned out to be a torn meniscus. ("Like meniscus fully dangling off the bone," Aisha explains.) In this conversation, Aisha reflects on that day at the track in Chiavenna, and talks about what it's like when all of your dreams are ripped away from you in an instant. She talks about her decision to race anyway, and talks about what she says was the hardest part of this injury. (It wasn't the race. It was calling her loved ones.) Plus, Aisha — who is now two weeks post-op — discusses her surgery, her recovery, and her big dreams for what's next.

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What you'll get on this episode:

How Aisha made Jamaica's Olympic team this year (11:40)
How Aisha's training was going leading up to the Olympics (19:30)
The day Aisha heard that "pop" at practice, and the aftermath (22:30)
The journey to Tokyo, and what Aisha says was the hardest part of the injury (49:00)
What it was like racing the 1500 on a torn meniscus in Tokyo (1:05:20)
Aisha's goals for the future (1:17:45)
What Aisha's watching right now (1:19:00)

What we mention on this episode:

Aisha Praught & Will Leer on Episode 204 of the Ali on the Run Show

Aisha Praught Leer on Episode 197 of the Ali on the Run Show

Follow Aisha:

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Listen & Subscribe:

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode of The Alley on the Run Show is brought to you by the women at Wazel.
0:05.2	Go to wazel.com to check out all of the brand's newest arrivals and use the code on the run
0:12.1	to get 15% off your order.
0:18.8	Welcome to The Alley on the Run Show. I'm your host, Allie Feller, and I am very excited to bring you
0:24.7	today's conversation with professional runner and Olympian Aisha Prattlier. Aisha has been on the
0:31.6	show a whole bunch of times, but hey, let's give her a formal introduction. Aisha is a Puma sponsored
0:38.1	runner who's based in Colorado where she trains with team boss. The group led by coach Joe Boss
0:43.9	Hard and Aisha's teammates include the iconic familiar faces like Emma Coburn, Kate Grace,
0:51.9	Laura Thuit, Corey McGee, Dom Scott, Danny Jones, Maddie Om, and so many more dynamic women.
0:59.2	Aisha was selected to compete for Team Jamaica at this year's Olympic Games in Tokyo.
1:04.4	She had planned to compete in the 1,500 meters and training was going great until one day of
1:11.1	practice. It wasn't. It broke my heart when Aisha shared just a few days before flying to Tokyo
1:18.9	that she'd had a bit of a freak accident at practice one day. She tore her meniscus like
1:24.7	tore that bad boy right off the bone. I cannot imagine working so hard and training so tirelessly
1:31.6	for so long to get to go to the Olympics and for it all to kind of come crashing down just days
1:37.2	before boarding that plane. Fortunately, Aisha was still able to go to Tokyo and she ran the first
1:43.7	round of the 1,500. On this episode, Aisha talks all about that injury, both the physical injury
1:50.7	itself and the mental pain that came with it. She talks about why in spite of it all, she says that
1:56.7	she had more fun in Tokyo than she did when she competed at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
2:02.8	She talks about goals and disappointment and about flying home and going right into surgery.
2:08.5	Now, Aisha is firmly on the road to recovery. I cannot wait to see what she comes back and does
2:14.9	next and I just always love getting to talk to her. I hope you enjoyed this conversation about
	...

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